The present disclosure relates to an actuating member for making a medical elongated member perform a predetermined action, and a medical apparatus equipped with the actuating member.
In the medical field, a flexible elongated member is generally used as a medical apparatus for performing administration of medicine into a living body, suction or injection of various fluids, introduction of other medical apparatuses into the living body, or the like. For example, where an elongated member is used for the introduction of other medical apparatuses, prior to the introduction of the medical apparatus, the elongated member is inserted into a lumen (a blood vessel, a body cavity, or the like) of the living body and is guided to a target area, such as an area to be treated and its peripheral area. In order to appropriately guide the elongated member to the target area during such use, it is often necessary to introduce the elongated member along a curved path like the lumen of the living body. For this reason, the elongated member may include an actuating member capable of performing a bending operation by a user's proximal operation when the elongated member is used.
As to techniques related to this, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-142199 (hereinafter referred to as “Patent Document 1”) describes an actuating member including a push/pull member connected to an elongated member, a pulley around which the push/pull member is wound, and a handle for rotationally actuating the pulley, and an endoscope into which the actuating member is assembled. In the actuating member, the handle is arranged on a proximal side of the endoscope and rotates around an axis orthogonal to the axial direction of the elongated member, thereby winding the push/pull member to perform a bending action.